Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

Gearbox already said they wanted to bring Borderlands to Switch but Ninty were disinterested.

I dunno why they would care, unless Gearbox was asking them to pay for it or something

@jump Regarding that statement the words "Gearbox - Randy Pitchford - Liar" come to mind...dunno why

@YummyHappyPills FIFA 19 confirmed for Switch.

https://www.dreamteamfc.com/c/gaming/401351/fifa-19-release-d...

@OorWullie Well colour me positively surprised.

Also surprising that they are commiting to improving the game. They dont normally do that, I was expecting just the same game with a few new faces.

@YummyHappyPills It's good news indeed. How much of an upgrade it will be though we'll just have to wait and see.

@OorWullie I was sure that if it WAS going to happen, they'd pull a Legacy edition, just add new players but everything else is identical, ya know, like what they did with FIFA...14 was it on Wii U? Or 13. One of em was just the prior game sold again.

So this commitment to improvements is welcome.

@link3710 Yeah they tried to do Borderlands 2 on Vita...it was awful. But it would be great on Switch! I already have it on PS and X1....can't see buying a third copy....but part of me might.

And yeah I never bought "Nintendo wasn't interested" I assumed that meant "Nintendo wasn't interested when we moneyhatted them." It's Pitchford. He's moneyhatted Sega, he's moneyhatted 2k, and he's burned them both. At the same time.

@OorWullie Great news! Seems like the only major criticism of '18 was the inability to play online with friends...add that to '19 - and they'll make a lot of people happy! **fingers crossed!**

FIFA '18 has been consistently riding high in the UK eShop (and I'm sure many others) for some time now - glad it was successful enough to persuade EA to release another...and a simple change to online component of the game next time around would surely lead to it being more positively received by critics - which could pull those put off by the lukewarm reception of '18 (on Switch) back in to the fold (..who knows, if '19 sells like hot-cakes, we might even get a 'dumbed down' version of Frostbite one day! )

@NaviAndMii The comments about Frostbite reveal one thing and it lines up with what was said by the Need for Speed producer last year.

They dont even know nor have they seemingly tried Frostbite yet

Huzzah! I'll definitely be buying it. FIFA 18 is my most played Switch game despite only buying the game 3 months ago.

@YummyHappyPills With your game development background, I'm sure you'd have a much better understanding of game engines etc than I could ever hope to...

I'd have to assume that it's not just a simple thing to get an engine to run on a certain (in this case, relatively under-powered) piece of hardware - but, at the same time, for a company with EA's resources, I'd guess that they could if they felt motivated to do so - it just feels like they're only partially committed to the platform otherwise.. (..especially when they word it that way - 'dumbing down' the engine to get it to run - hardly a ringing endorsement of the Switch!)

Still, money talks (to EA more than most! ) ..they've dipped their toes in at least - and if FIFA '19 (or one of their other offerings) proves to be a smash hit, maybe they will decide to 'dumb it down' for us one day!

@NaviAndMii I find it odd they havent at least tried yet. They probably COULD get it working, and with their resources trying wouldn't hurt you know?

@NaviAndMii So, will you be getting FIFA 19?

It is a political decision, I am quite sure about it. Basically, EAs entire model is built on releasing as many games as possible with as minimal porting effort as needed with as little cost as possible.

If your studio doesn't live up to a certain target set by EAs higher-ups, they might shut it down. This means that unless the higher ups requires a port, it won't happen because that would be a risk to your profit margin. This makes studios risk adverse as a result which leads to cookie cutter games.

This also means that frostbite will never be ported unless EAs execs tells them to do it.

@Therad I'm positive their model isn't to release as many games as possible. Rather, it's only a handful of games plastered with loot boxes. The amount of games they publish every year has been on a decline for a good while, but profits are up.

I feel like i should hold off buying 18 at this point. I wanted the world cup content but it isnt vital... and this is looking to be an expensive summer.

Edit: my bad that was NBA that was leaked on Walmart Canada, not FIFA
other than that, Great News to see FIFA on Switch again!

@NaviAndMii It would be a lot of work to retool the engine to even attempt to target Switch I would think. They'd have to go all in on trying. Considering the limited targets of everything EA, I imagine it's purely a PC based engine behind the scenes. But as for if they'd commit to it, or are partially committed.....well, most of their games target massively online environments right now and their revenue model depends on that (+FIFA).... Every EA game should come with a headset....it needs it. So the kinds of games they make really don't fit Switch too well. They "could make it fit' but I doubt there's much business reason to do so. Their back catalog has some good stuff, but I don't think the "persistent world/online competitive" heavy focus they have really fits well for now.

@Octane has it right. The EA model (it was actually an Assassin's Creed producer that hinted at this being the future model of all AAAs years ago, so not just EA) is to only release a few games with "continuing content" a.k.a. each game is a "platform" that is maintained with additional content for continuous sale. Loot boxes.

Notice ALL Ubi games now launch with a base, premium, and gold box? The gold box is $100 and includes "Season Pass. A.K.A you get 70% of the game for $60, but the whole game is $100." And that doesn't include the add-ons. Warner does the same (You can get away with the $75 Silver edition of Shadow of War, Gold doesn't add as much) EA's just taken it to an extreme that they release very few games and make them very big platforms. But it's all about online/social play on the "platform." None of that fits well with Switch.

@NEStalgia Eye has been opened. What has been seen cannot be unseen. Welp I guess I'll need another hobby in about a decade. At least my backlog will last me till I'm 80.

Seriously though, we have to be headed towards another video game crash. I'm sure an industry wide price hike is on the way after the 5/Two/SuperSwitch/ No more 3ds era hits. I'm cool with 60 across the board but this subtle push to 100 (and it is more than loot boxes...fighting games are getting that. Let's announce dlc characters before the game comes out! grumble) is giving me chrono trigger flashbacks. I'm not doing that.